


Ace in the Hole

by MissChrisDaae



Series: The Foster Edition [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Jane Foster, F/M, Jane Foster Loves Science, Jewish Jane Foster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-07
Updated: 2015-05-13
Packaged: 2018-03-21 18:35:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3702089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissChrisDaae/pseuds/MissChrisDaae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Working alongside Selvig on Project PEGASUS, Jane manages to escape when Loki arrives, bringing with her the data on the Tesseract, and making herself SHIELD's biggest resource in combating the rogue trickster. At least until her semi-boyfriend finally makes good on his promise to come back, and she finds herself caught in the middle of a war. And she might be a key part in stopping it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Touchdown and Takeoff

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Watchtower](https://archiveofourown.org/works/644033) by [the_irish_mayhem](https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_irish_mayhem/pseuds/the_irish_mayhem). 



"Talk to me, doctors."

Jane looked up from recording the latest flare in the data banks as Erik came from behind the CMS machine to greet Fury. "Duck," she called out, just as another flare ring erupted from the center of the Tesseract.

"Director," Erik pulled Fury aside.

"Is there anything we know for certain?" the soldier asked.

"The Tesseract is misbehaving."

"Is that supposed to be funny?"

"No, it's not funny at all," Jane interrupted, scribbling down the data into her own notebook as well. After the raid in Puente Antiguo, she’d never kept it less than arm’s reach away. "The Tesseract is not only active, it’s...misbehaving. As in, it’s sentient."

"How soon until you pull the plug?" Fury asked, splitting his focus equally between Jane and Erik, which she appreciated, but she let Erik explain as she kept working.

"She’s an energy source. If we turn off the power, she turns it back on. If she reaches peak level…"

"We've prepared for this, doctor. Harnessing energy from space."

"Yes, but there’s no harness," Jane said, taking over. "Our calculations are far from complete, and now it’s throwing off low levels of gamma radiation, which are interfering with the equipment. Not on the same level as the Bifröst, but still enough to make me tick."

"Where’s Barton?" Fury asked, changing the subject and leaving Jane to her work as he walked with Erik.

"The Hawk? Up in his nest, as usual."

Jane removed the first of two plugged-in flash drives and set it in Erik’s coat pocket. Then she let herself waste a moment fingering the sketch in her notebook. The one Thor had drawn nearly a year ago. Yggdrasil, the world’s tree, a cosmos linked most likely by a network of Einstein-Rosen bridges. Then she glanced up at the screen and paled. 

"Everyone, brace yourselves, we’re about to get a big one!" she shouted, entering a series of commands as the Tesseract roared, a wave of blue energy erupting from it, followed by a spiraling vortex that felt very familiar to Jane. It ripped open a portal in the ceiling, giving her a view of completely unfamiliar stars. It was terrifying and beautiful to see, more so the former as the Tesseract’s energy began to pool around the portal, and Jane realized that something had come through in the following silence.

There was a man kneeling on the platform, smoke coming off his body, and a wickedly curved and pointy scepter with a blue gem in his hand. He raised his eyes and, for a moment, Jane’s entire body seemed to freeze as he looked directly at her. For a split second, she thought she’d seen his lips form her name.

"Sir, please put down the spear!" Fury shouted. The man looked down at the weapon in question, then fired directly at Fury, Erik and Agent Barton, who tackled both of them to the ground before the blast could hit. Jane ducked for cover as machine guns began to fire, scrambling to save the rapidly reported new data into her flash drive. Then she became aware of the silence again and looked up to see the man pressing his spear tip right against Barton’s chest.

"You have heart," he rasped, his accent sounding vaguely British, the kind of 'posh' inflections Jane’s own mother had. Then, Jane realized the data had stopped coming in, and saw Fury sealing the cube in its case. He caught her eye, gesturing with his own for her to get out as he tried to do the same. "Please don’t," the man ordered softly, turning towards Fury. "I still need that."

"This doesn't have to get any messier," Fury said. Jane kept her head down, trying to keep calm.

"Of course it does. I've come too far for anything else," the man retorted calmly. "I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose."

_Asgard._ She racked her brain for the stories both her mother and Erik knew, but Erik supplied who this newcomer was for her. "Loki _?_ Brother of Thor?" 

Loki gave him a glare that probably would have given nightmares to small children. Jane remembered vaguely that Thor had been speaking to his brother as he’d gone towards the giant killer robot. This was already bad, and Fury didn’t seem to be making things better.

"We have no quarrel with your people."

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot," Loki shot back easily.

"You planning to step on us?"

Great. Witty banter. Jane ejected her flash drive, tucking it in the inner pocket of her coat, which she’d already put on. Then she stuffed her notebook up her shirt as Loki went on."I come with glad tidings, of a world made free."

"Free from what?"

"Freedom. Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart…" In an instant, Loki had turned around and given Erik the same treatment he had Barton. _No!_ Jane forced herself not to shout it. "You will know peace."

"Yeah, you say peace, I kind of think you mean the other thing." Fury made eye contact with Jane again, both of them already knew what was happening above them. The Tesseract's energy cloud was building into an implosion.

She wasn’t close enough to get the Tesseract, and she wasn’t fast enough to run while laden down with other equipment. All she had was the flash drive and her notebook, but that would have to be enough. Jane bolted for the exit, keeping her head ducked and her arms in. There was a blast behind her, rubble falling towards her, and she swerved her course, never letting herself slow down, all the way up to the surface exit.

"Coulson!" she yelled. "Get everyone out, ASAP, we’re about to collapse!"

"The director already told me, get in!" Coulson shepherded her into the nearest helicopter before going back for more agents, one of whom was trying to recover a box of supplies. "No! Leave it!"

Jane buckled in and set herself up for the ascent of the helicopter, and not a moment too soon, as the base began to crumble. Possibly with Erik still inside.

She wasn’t going to cry. She wasn’t going to throw up, or scream, or do anything that would end up costing her. That would be stupid. And Jane Foster did not _do_ stupid. So, instead, she started theorizing.

Loki clearly knew who she was, and hated her, so why had he not tried to capture her and give her the scepter treatment? And why hadn’t he come through the Bifröst? She remembered the flashing lights in the sky after Thor had gone back, but what was the connection? And the staff… 

"Doctor Foster? This is Agent Hill, are you alright?" A tinny voice came through the headset she’d been given.

"Yeah, I’m in one piece, and I have all the data from the Tesseract."

"Good to know, because they’ve got the cube now."

"And Erik?"

"He went with the hostile."

"Loki…" Jane winced.

"I’m sorry."

"Well, we’re going to get it back, right?" Jane asked faux-optimistically.

"That’s the idea. The plan, on the other hand, is with the director."

* * *

They only made her go through a basic evaluation, like every other field agent to determine if she was physically unwell. Relocation hadn’t been particularly easy either. The Helicarrier lab might have been more aesthetically pleasing, but it felt wrong without Erik, and in the time it had taken them to get to this point, Jane was beginning to get antsy.

So, when they called her into the bridge, she wasn’t exactly pleased about it, but at least she’d be able to give them one piece of advice on how to track down Loki and the Tesseract. Waiting for her cue, she kept idly tracing the sketch of Yggdrasil.

_I give you my word, I will return for you. Deal?_

_Deal._

Some deal. When had the batshit murderous brother been a part of anything?

"Gentlemen." Fury’s voice pierced her thoughts, and she looked up to see Agent Romanoff, Barton’s unofficial partner leading in two men who could only be Steve Rogers and Bruce Banner. Rogers passed Fury a ten as the Director went over to Banner.

"Doctor, thank you for coming."

"Thanks for asking nicely," Banner replied, shaking hands. "So, uh... how long am I staying?" Jane felt a sudden need to give him a blanket and a mug of chamomile tea. He reminded her of her old teddy bear, solid, but clearly worse for the wear.

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear."

"Where are you with that?"

"We’re sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet," Coulson interrupted before Jane had the chance to explain _her_ project. "Cellphones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

"That’s still not gonna find them in time," Romanoff muttered, glancing at Barton’s photo on the nearest screen.

"Keep an eye on Stuttgart," Jane spoke up. "Dr. Heinrich Schäfer is the only scientist on the planet with a supply of iridium, I’ve been able to figure out that Loki’s going to need it if he wants to use another portal." Rogers and Banner looked at her in surprise. "Dr. Jane Foster," she explained, as if it should have been obvious. "Astrophysicist, and lead scientist on Project PEGASUS."

"Erik’s protégé," Banner remarked, coming forward to shake her hand. “He sent me your undergraduate theses on Einstein-Rosen bridges. Really incredible work." 

Jane nearly blushed. "Your own papers are nothing to sneeze at either, Dr. Banner. I wish we were working together under better circumstances."

"You and me both. I think I know another way we can narrow things down. Director, how many spectrometers do you have access to?"

"How many are there?" Fury asked dryly.

"Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I’ll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do we have a workplace?" Banner asked, looking at Jane for confirmation.

"Agent Romanoff, would you escort the doctors to the laboratory, please."

"This way." The Russian redhead led them back towards the lab. "You’re gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys."

"So, how’d you end up here, Dr. Foster?" Banner asked Jane.

"I hit the god of thunder with my truck," she deadpanned. "And you can call me Jane."

"Only if you call me Bruce. And I get the feeling there’s more to the story than what you just said." They reached the lab, and Bruce looked at Agent Romanoff. "I think I’m in good hands from here."

Romanoff shrugged, opening the doors for them. "Use the intercom if you need anything." With that, she sauntered off and Jane went into the lab first.

"So, I hit the god of thunder with my truck—"

"You said that."

"And then his father sent down this magic hammer, and SHIELD basically Area 51’ed the whole place, and stole all my stuff to investigate. Did you see the balding guy in the suit? Coulson?"

"What about him?"

"I don’t like him. He’s the one who led the raid on my lab."

"Isn’t that a little petty?"

"Nothing that hinders me ever feels petty. I’m a woman in science," she said bluntly, moving through the equipment, and making gestures of how it worked for him.

"Touché. Please, keep going." Bruce tested one of the touch screens while still looking at her.

"Anyway, Thor and I went out there so he could get his hammer back, but instead, he nearly got arrested, Erik and I got him out, the two of them went drinking, and then Thor and I talked a bit about my work while Erik slept off the hangover. And then the next day, Loki, the guy who took the Tesseract, sent a giant killer robot down to destroy us. Thor…" She winced. "Thor died in front of us, but that got his powers back somehow, and then he and the friends who’d come to get him went back to Asgard, and Erik and I started working with SHIELD on the Tesseract. I wanted to work on my own, but… Erik insisted. He wouldn’t do it without me."

Then it hit her. "Take a look at this with me," she requested, pulling up the few scans they’d been able to get of the energy from the gem in Loki’s spear, and putting them alongside the Tesseract scans. "Do they look…"

"Similar?" Bruce finished. "Yes, I see it."

"Erik started acting a little weird ever since he saw the Tesseract for the first time, Loki must have been—"

"Dr. Foster," the intercom buzzed with Fury’s voice, interrupting her. "Thanks for the Stuttgart tip, we’ve got a match on Loki. Agent Romanoff is heading there now with Captain Rogers." Jane frowned a little. No doubt they were good, but neither of them were protected from Loki’s scepter, if he got too close…

"Thank you for telling me, Director," she said finally, sighing heavily. She was _way_ too tired for all this.

"Jane, if I ask you something, will you be honest with me?" Bruce asked. "Was there more to that story that you haven’t told me?"

"I told you what you needed to know," she said softly, touching the spot where her notebook was nestled between her shirt and her stomach. "My work… Einstein-Rosen bridges have been the most important thing to me for so long, and now it’s… so much bigger. I feel a little lost."

"There are worse things to be," Bruce murmured, and Jane immediately felt awful. SHIELD had briefed her on Bruce’s bad encounter with gamma radiation, that was why he looked as worn out as he did.

"I’m sorry," she whispered, and he shrugged, as if it weren’t a huge burden.

"It happened. I can’t change it, just live with it."

Jane bit her lip, changing the subject. "I’m going on a coffee run, do you want anything?"

"If they have anything substantial to eat, that’d be appreciated. It was a long trip out here."

"Sure, no problem." Jane headed out to the break room, grabbing a mug of coffee for herself, and a breakfast sandwich for Bruce before coming back. "Any breakthroughs in the five minutes I was gone?" she joked.

"Nothing yet." He smiled at her, a very nice, fatherly kind of smile, the kind that came from indulging in a little silliness. "But if there’s somewhere you can take a nap, I’d suggest it, those bags under your eyes are pretty big. When was the last time you slept?"

"The night before Loki showed up," she admitted guiltily.

"Yeah, I’m pulling my MD on you. Go get some sleep." He gave her a gentle shove on the shoulder. "And it’ll give me the chance to get up to speed with you. I’ll make sure someone finds you when there’s news."


	2. Reunion and Revelation

Thor was grateful to see Coulson after so many unfamiliar and unwelcoming faces, especially with the burden still on his own shoulders, blaming himself for not having been able to save Loki from falling off the Bifröst— "I’m sorry," he apologized. "I became lost in my own thoughts. What was it you were saying?"

Coulson shrugged amicably. "After Loki’s attack, we moved Darcy Lewis to safety, she’s currently with interning with Dr. Elise Nelson in Uppsala."

"And Jane?" Thor couldn’t keep the pain out of his voice. If Jane was threatened or harmed by Loki, it was his fault—

"Why don’t you ask me yourself?" a wonderfully familiar voice asked from behind him. He turned, not daring to hope, and felt his entire face split into a grin as his eyes found hers. They looked older, wiser, and sadder, but they were still the same soft, sparkling brown he remembered. She rushed down the little flight of steps to him, all but flinging her arms around his neck as her lips found his.

_Valhalla._ She tasted of vanilla, and coffee, and smelled like the soap he’d seen in her little trailer a year ago— lavender and fresh linens. In the heat of the embrace, her tongue darted out, slipping easily between the seam of his lips. He cradled her head gently, leaning in closer so that there was no space left between them. Finally, she pulled away, gasping. "You’re late."

"And you have my deepest apologies," he told her as someone cleared their throat. Jane guiltily rubbed at the back of her head as she latched the fingers of one hand with Thor’s and pulled him back up the steps to the table. Romanoff had just cut off the display of Loki in the cell. Thor tried not to frown at the thought of his brother’s imprisonment. This wasn’t the Loki he’d grown up with, his brother was somewhere deep within the man who stood in the cell.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" The man he’d been told was called Banner asked dryly.

"Loki’s gonna drag this out." Rogers remarked. "So, Thor, what's his play?"

"He has an army called the Chitauri, that none of Asgard nor any world know," Thor explained, leaning on the table with the hand that wasn’t holding Jane’s. "He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"An army? From outer space?" Rogers asked skeptically.

"That’s what he needs Erik for, to build him a portal," Jane explained.

"Erik?" Thor repeated. "Loki has him?" Jane looked up at him, nodding grimly.

"It’s some kind of spell," Romanoff explained curtly. "He got one of our top agents as well."

"I want to know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here," Rogers pointed out.

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki," Banner interjected. "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him."

Thor stiffened defensively. "Have care how you speak. Loki may be beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he’s my brother."

"He’s killed eighty people in two days," Romanoff said bluntly.

"And I’ve done worse." At that admission, a few of them shifted away from him, but Jane didn’t move, something for which Thor was deeply grateful.

"Jane, what did they need the Iridium for?" Banner asked.

Jane opened her mouth to answer when the man in the iron suit walked in, now free of his. "It’s a stabilizing agent." He tapped Coulson on the shoulder, giving a little smirk . "I’ll fly you there. Keep the love alive."

Jane scowled a little, taking back the conversation. " _As I was saying_ , Iridium is a stabilizing agent, it makes anti-protons. With it, they’ll  have the means to keep the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long as Loki wants, without it collapsing the way it did at SHIELD— Stark, stop making an idiot out of yourself!"

Stark stopped calling out orders and pantomiming to look at her. "That man is playing Galaga!" he protested, pointing at one of the agents. "Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did."

Jane let go of Thor’s hand and marched over, grabbing Stark by the collar. "Listen up, you’re not the only MIT graduate here, and I’ve been working on this project for a year. More if you count the work I’ve been doing on my own. I don’t _care_ if you’re a hotshot inventor and Iron Man, you’re on _my_ turf, _I_ call the shots." Her eyes were blazing and for a woman so small, she was terrifying. "If he interrupts me again, please, someone taser him. Normally, I’d ask my intern, but she’s not here." Thor chuckled at the reminder of Darcy as Stark sulked and Jane pushed him away. 

"Threat! That was a threat!"

"Shut up, and let me finish," Jane snapped, taking her place back at the table. "The rest of the raw materials are fairly easy to get their hands on, but they’ll need a power source. Something with a high energy density, something that can give it a kick to get going."

"Anything in particular?" Romanoff asked.

"He’s got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," Banner said, fiddling with the spectacles in his hand.

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," Stark interjected. Thor could hear Jane’s breath going in and out between her clenched teeth, and he rubbed at her shoulders gently, trying to calm her.

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet," Banner agreed.

"Erik’s good, but not that good," Jane interrupted, wresting back control. "No human is."

"Yeah, sure, says you." Stark tapped his chest as he went over to Banner. "It’s good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

"Thanks." Banner glanced down awkwardly. Thor could barely keep his eyes from widening. Berserkers were thought extinct, yet apparently, that was not the case here.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube, along with Dr. Foster," Fury announced. "I was hoping you might join them."

Let's start with that stick of his," Rogers suggested. "It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."

"Because magic is just highly advanced science," Jane muttered.

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube," Fury told him. "And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys?" Thor frowned. "I do not understand."

"I do!" Rogers interrupted, looking very pleased with himself. "I understood that reference."

"I’ll explain the monkey thing after _you_ explain where you’ve been for the past year," Jane told Thor, pulling him away from the table."Bruce, if you want to get Stark’s help, go ahead, just remember the rules I laid out. I might be a little while."

"Come on." Banner took Stark by the arm. "And don’t worry, she’s brilliant. Just a little prickly. It’s been a rough time for her."

Thor followed Jane into a small room with a single bed and a little table. She closed the door behind them, and sat down on the bed, looking up at him. "So. What exactly happened after you left me here on Earth?"

Thor did his best to give her a truncated version of what had happened on Asgard, difficult though it was, especially at the memory of his battle with Loki and the shattering of the Bifröst.

"You _smashed_ it?" she demanded, eyes nearly popping out of her skull. "I mean, I get it, it was destroying a world, but still…"

He couldn’t help smiling, albeit a little sadly. "I know how deeply you wanted to see it. And work is being done to build a new one. It’s still a possibility."

"So, since then, you’ve been stuck on Asgard?" She sighed. "Okay, I have to admit, as excuses go, it’s not terrible. You're forgiven." He chuckled, kissing her forehead.

"Now, the monkeys?"

"It’s a reference to a film. Moving pictures with matching sound. In the forties, there was a film called The Wizard of Oz, and the wicked witch had an army of flying monkeys."

"Then Loki has not turned Erik into a monkey?"

"No, the last I saw, Erik was still human," she laughed a little. "Well, we better get to the lab before Stark does something else to make me want to hit him."

"He does have a mouth on him," Thor agreed. "Do you want my assistance?"

"If you want to, but it’ll be a lot of science babble for the most part." She opened the door. "I mean, aside from Stark’s ego." He fell in step with her along the corridors as she entered the laboratory, which reminded him vaguely of the residence she’d been using when they’d first met, a lot of glass surrounding them. Rogers was walking out, frowning. "Everything okay?" Jane asked.

"Yeah, I just… can’t put up with Stark, he’s driving me crazy. I was just going to take a walk through here, see what else I’ve missed in the last seventy years."

"Oh, joy." Jane looked between them. "Thor… why don’t you go with him, I don’t want you to see what I might have to do to Stark."

Thor nodded, unsure of whether or not to laugh at the idea of her fuming at Stark. "Will you mind my company?" he asked Rogers.

"I guess not. We are kind of in the same boat, this is a completely different world from the one we’re used to."

"I have some experience," Thor protested.

"For three days?" Rogers asked dryly. "Agent Coulson gave me the file on your last visit."

"I’m a quick study."

"I’d like to see that in action, if you’re ever up for showing me what you’ve got."

"I’d be honored," Thor said, then immediately followed up with an apology. "But I’m afraid my father will be expecting me to return to Asgard with both Loki and the Tesseract, and I have no way of knowing when I will be able to return." Rogers turned to look at him sharply.

"And does Jane know?" Thor flinched a little. He had not broached the subject with her, and the captain seemed to understand that. "Look, you have to tell her, it’s gonna affect her. And take a word of advice. Don’t let her get away from you. There’s something about her… she’s a dame worth keeping."

"Believe me, I know. There’s not been a day since I last saw her that I have not thought of her."

"Did you at least tell her that?"

"Not in so many words."

"Oh… Right." Rogers cleared his throat. "I guess that _is_ a pretty good way to tell someone something."

"I apologize if we made you uncomfortable."

"Just a little. But it was kind of nice to see a little good come out of this. I’m just really hoping they can track down the cube before it can be used to let that army come here." They rounded a corner and started down a flight of stairs. "Sorry about this, but I have to ask… what did you mean when you said you’ve done worse than Loki?"

"Asgard is a realm of warriors," Thor explained. "I took that to a degree far greater than I should have, and led Loki and our friends into Jötunheim, the home of our greatest enemies, with the intent of killing as many as I could, and bringing the rest to heel. I was a fool for it, and my father banished me here as punishment. It was how I met Jane."

"I guess that just confirms what I said before."

"Captain—"

"Steve. Everyone’s calling me some variation of Captain Rogers right now, I’d like it if someone called me by name."

"Steve." Thor repeated. "I regret what I did, the actions that led me to Earth the first time, and the damages that they wrought. But I do not regret meeting Jane. She… she gave me something to fight for besides my own glory. As did Erik and Darcy."

"I get it. I… I had a similar experience. Lost someone really close to me…" Steve tried to laugh as he pushed open a door. "I lost everyone, really, when I think about it. But it was to save… them…" They were in a room filled with black crates, and Steve opened one, his face darkening. "No…"

"What are they?" Thor lifted one up experimentally, careful not to touch anything that might accidentally trigger it. "They don’t resemble the weapons I saw when I was here last."

"But they do resemble weapons I saw a long time ago." Steve took the weapon from him, face grim. "Come on. I need to talk to Fury."

 


	3. Discovery and Drop

"There’s a piece missing." Jane said, frowning at the data. "The readings are similar, I think, but the Tesseract isn’t powering the scepter—"

"What are you doing, Mr. Stark?" Fury interrupted her, coming into the lab, his face embodying his name. Jane immediately tensed, her jaw clenching as Stark started shooting off his mouth again.

"Uh...kind of been wondering the same thing about you."

"You’re _supposed_ to be locating the Tesseract!"

"We are," Bruce said gently. "The model's locked and we’re sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile."

"And you'll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss," Stark said calmly, pulling something up on his chosen screen. "What’s Phase 2?"

"Oh, my god, will you _please_ foc _—_ " Jane stopped when Thor and Captain Rogers came in, the latter holding something that looked a lot like a gun and dropped it on the countertop.

"Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons," he announced scathingly.

Jane folded her arms, eyes narrowing at Fury. "This was _not_ what I signed on for, Fury."

"We gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we’re…"

"I'm sorry, Nick. What were you lying?" Stark turned his screen around, revealing the schematics for a gun like the one Rogers had produced.

"I was wrong, director. The world hasn’t changed a bit," Rogers said coldly.

Agent Romanoff slipped inside the lab, making things even more tense, if such a thing was even possible. "You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?" she asked, looking at Bruce. 

"You wanna think about giving us an explanation as to what we’re really doing here?" Jane shot back without hesitation.

"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed, Agent Romanoff," Bruce said, taking the schematic screen from Stark. "And I'm not about to leave because suddenly you got a little twitchy. I’d like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

"And so would I, considering I agreed to work with you for the goals of energy and trans-dimensional connectivity," Jane added, moving closer to her colleague.

"You want me to point a finger at someone, Dr. Foster? Fine, it’s because of _him!"_ Fury jabbed his finger at Thor.

"Me?" Thor repeated incredulously, and Jane rushed to defend her— Boyfriend? Lover? Okay, figuring out their relationship could definitely wait until later, she had to help him right now.

" _Loki_ is the one who sent the Destroyer—"

"Which leveled Puente Antiguo with the intent of killing him, proving not only are we not alone in the universe, but we are hopelessly, and hilariously outgunned," Fury cut her off coldly.

"Asgard does not share Loki’s sentiments of conquest," Thor insisted. "We want nothing but peace with your people."

"But you’re not the only people out there, or the only threat. SHIELD and the Tesseract are the earth’s only lines of defense."

"And look how well that’s turned out!" Jane snapped. Her forehead was throbbing, like she’d spent an hour listening to Darcy’s crappy old iPod headphones blasting Joan Jett. She rubbed at the offending spot, then caught sight of the scepter. The blue gem was glowing wickedly, and everyone else was descending into squabbling, but the pounding in her head was getting stronger.

_Similar, but not identical. Power sources. One bends space. One… minds._ "Stop it!" It wasn’t until all the noise stopped that she realized she’d spoken aloud.

"Jane…" Thor hurried to her side, arms wrapping around her and cradling her close. "Are you well?"

"No, none of us, are… that… that stone is messing with our heads—" One of the monitors started going off. "The Tesseract." A huge _boom_ rocked the Helicarrier, throwing everyone around like rag dolls. Jane, much to her relief was shielded from the brunt of the damage by Thor’s massive body covering her own.

"Are you hurt?" he asked, his deep voice resonating with worry, and she shook her head.

"No… I think Barton’s here, I got a reading similar to the stone…" There was a loud roar, and she paled. "Oh, no, _Bruce…"_

"What is it?"

"I think the Hulk’s coming out. Thor, he doesn’t mean to—"

"I know." He kissed her forehead. "We have something like that on Asgard, I’ll explain later, but you must get to safety."

"Thor—"

"Jane, I ask this for both our sakes. I’ll fight better knowing you are out of harm’s way." He was right, she knew it, and she hated it.

"Okay, okay. Fine. But you be careful too." She indulged in one quick peck on the lips, so, on the off chance that the worst happened, they had one more good memory. He gave her a sad little smile, then dropped down the hole the blast had created. Jane checked her shirt for her journal, then froze as she realized she wasn’t alone. She didn’t need anything but instinct to know this was one of Loki’s goons, especially when the black clad SWAT guy grabbed the scepter with one hand and her wrist with the other. "Get off me!"

She kept struggling as the brainwashed agent dragged her down the corridors to Loki’s cell, just in time to see Thor bolting into the cell and right through what looked like a hologram of Loki. The _real_ god of mischief materialized in front of the cell, smirking as the door closed. " _So_ predictable," he crowed. "Almost makes you boring." Jane renewed her struggle to get away as the dark Asgardian turned to look at her. "We meet at last, _Jane Foster._ " He grabbed her by the face, wrenching her out of his lackey’s grip, his creepy blue eyes staring right into her soul. "I made a promise some time ago to pay you a visit myself."

"Leave her be!" Thor shouted, smashing Mjölnir against the glass. Loki turned for a moment, and Jane twisted her head, biting down on his thumb. Without so much as batting an eye, Loki backhanded her, slamming her into the floor, and she let out an involuntary whimper at the impact.

"I’ll deal with you in a moment," Loki told her. "But first, there’s something I need to do. The humans believe us immortal, brother. Care to test it?"

"Move away, please." Jane lifted her aching head to see Coulson pointing a gun at Loki. "You like this? We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does."

Even through the haze of pain, Jane could detect the faintest shimmer of green light, she saw Loki appear with the scepter in hand behind the SHIELD agent. " _Coulson!"_ she screamed, trying to warn him, but Loki just shoved the pointed end, triggering a gasp from Coulson as he fell forward.

"No!" Thor’s shouted protest was practically lost as Loki stepped over Coulson’s body and brought his hand down on the big red button on the control panel. The floor opened beneath the cell, and Thor dropped out of sight.

" _Thor_!" Jane screamed, wriggling uselessly as Loki pulled her up to look at her again.

"I don’t see it," he said, his voice deadly quiet. "I don’t see what it is about you that made him change so greatly, but it doesn’t matter now. And since pets oughtn’t outlive their masters—" He shoved her out the still open floor.

The fall ripped sound from her mouth and air from her lungs, her vision was going blurry. _Hypoxia. Lack of oxygen_ , she thought vaguely as everything went black.

When she found herself conscious and able to breathe again, she was pressed against Thor’s armored chest, one arm clutched tightly around her, the other using Mjölnir to steer them. "I’ve got you," he said into her hair. "I won’t let you die."

"I’m scared," she whispered.

"I know. Just hold tight to me." She obeyed, bracing herself for the impact. It had been a year, but she still remembered what flying with him had been like last time, and she tried with everything in her to go back to that time. They hit the ground with a thud that shook her to the core. Thor set down the hammer, and started examining Jane in a way that seemed almost medical, being very careful and methodical in his touch. "Nothing broken," he said. "Good. I saw you falling… I thought I might have been too late."

"Well.. I’m okay," she promised, smoothing down her wind-ruffled hair. "A little rattled. Okay, very rattled, I thought we were both going to die. That was what Loki wanted." His face darkened, and she hugged him tightly. "Thor, I’m so sorry."

"You have no fault in this, Jane. But he has the scepter now, undoubtedly. And I cannot allow him to bring further harm to your world, or to you."

"If you think I’m letting you leave me in the middle of a field while you go off to fight him, you’ve got another think coming," she warned.

"Jane—"

"Thor, I get that you’re concerned for my safety, but you need me. I know how Erik thinks, I can help stop the portal—"

"We don’t even know where he will strike."

"Actually, you’re wrong." She pulled out her SHIELD issued smartphone, amazed it had survived, and ran a search. "Stark Tower. SHIELD keeps tabs on Stark. Barton would know about the fact that he just took the Tower off the city grid with a self-sustaining arc reactor. That’d be more than enough power for Loki to work the Tesseract." She held up the phone for him to see. "We need to go to Manhattan." He frowned, like he was about to argue and she held up a hand. "If you leave me here, I’m just going to find another way to get into the city. You want me to be safe, I get that. But this _matters_ to me, I’m not going to sit around doing nothing when I can help." She folded her arms, looking up at him expectantly, daring him to question her resolve. Thor’s jaw tightened, but he nodded grimly, looping an arm around her waist once again and opening his hand for Mjölnir.

For a moment, the hammer didn’t budge. Then, clouds gathered overhead, thunder roaring and lightning crackling around them, giving him the armor she’d seen the first time he’d transformed. She hooked her arms around his chest and braced herself as they were pulled back up into the sky.

 


	4. Battle and Brilliance

In spite of the Chitauri already descending from the open portal, they managed to land on the balcony of the tower, Thor doing his best to shield Jane from his brother’s sights. She didn’t need to give him more than a furtive look before rushing down the lower level where Erik was working at some kind of device centered around the Tesseract, but it was enough to tell Thor everything. For now, they each had their own task, and his was to face his brother.

"Loki!" he shouted. His brother turned, glaring down at him, and Thor forced back the memory of the battle on the Bifröst again. He could not let that distract him, not now. So many people were depending on him.

"Too late to stop me now, _brother_ ," Loki taunted. "Isn’t this what you always wanted? War and glory? Of course, you wanted it for yourself, but then, we can’t always get what we want." He aimed the scepter, firing a blast at Jane, who turned her head just in time to duck. The power hit the stone wall, pieces of it ricocheting in all directions.

"So be it." Thor refused to allow any of the reservations he felt hold him back as he charged his brother, scepter meeting hammer with a loud crash and flurry of sparks. But it was Thor who was on the defensive.

He could feel centuries of jealousy and rage with every strike Loki made, and it nearly frightened him how much his brother truly seemed to hate him. There was the loud grating sound of an engine behind them, and Loki used Thor’s diverted attention just long enough to push him back fire at one of the vessels Thor had seen on the Helicarrier. As the ship began to spiral down, Thor got to his feet, tackling his brother to the ground.

There was a loud roar as a monstrous, serpentine creature erupted from the portal along with the hoards of soldiers. Plumes of smoke were beginning to rise, the smell of ash permeating the air. " Look at this! Look around you! You think this madness will end with your rule? Stop this. _Please._ "

For a moment, he thought he saw Loki’s eyes soften, thought he saw a glimpse of his little brother, but the moment was cut off by the feeling of a blade piercing his mail and skin. "Spare me," Loki hissed.

Thor staggered back, regaining his balance and striking the scepter from Loki’s hands as he pushed his brother over the edge. Loki caught the edge of a Chitauri glider, riding out of sight as Thor pulled the knife from his side. He dropped it to the stones, looking over and down at Jane, who was holding a piece of stone with a terribly guilty expression on her face, making a swatting gesture with her hand for him to go deal with the greater threat. He couldn’t help a tiny smile at her as he spun Mjölnir and dropped down to the streets.

"Glad to see you’re still with us," Romanoff quipped, reloading her weapons with rectangular black objects. "What’s going on up there?"

"There’s some kind of barrier around the Tesseract. Jane is working on disabling it," Thor explained.

"Well, then I guess we’ve gotta buy Madame Curie some time and keep the clones busy," Stark’s voice came out of Romanoff’s sleeve.

Romanoff passed Thor a little conical black object, before pressing a little metal circle to the red cloth wrapped beneath his vambraces. "Put that in your ear," she said. "It’s for communication." Thor obeyed as she looked from Steve to the man Thor didn’t know, an archer who was twisting on an arrowhead. ""Any idea how we keep them busy?"

"As a team," Steve answered without missing a beat.

"So long as you leave my brother to me. He and I have unfinished business."

"Get in line, hammer time," the archer said bluntly. "We've all got beef with him."

"Barton, save it," Steve interrupted. "Loki’s gonna keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need, for everyone’s sake. Without him, these things could run wild. We got Stark up top, he's gonna need us, and Jane…" He stopped, and they all turned to see Banner riding up to them. Getting off, he looked around the city, then at the assembled group.

"So, this all seems horrible," he said bluntly.

"I’ve seen worse," Romanoff said.

"Sorry." Banner shifted his weight, a small, sheepish smile on his face.

"No. We could use a little worse," she told him gently

"Stark? We got him," Steve said, speaking into the little disk on his own uniform.

"Banner?" Thor heard Stark’s voice emanating from the cone in his ear.

"Just like you said."

"Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you."

Punctuated by a loud roar, Stark appeared in his armor from behind one of the taller buildings, and with the leviathan creature tailing him.

"I… I don't see how that's a party…" Romanoff said, frowning as Stark came closer to them, the leviathan barreling down the street after him. Banner turned, calmly walking towards the creature, and Thor tensed, both in worry and anticipation. If Banner couldn’t transform, it would most likely fall to him to try and stop the chitauri’s beast, he would be the only one strong enough—

"Dr. Banner," Steve’s voice interrupted Thor’s thoughts. "Now might be a really good time for you to get angry."

"That’s my secret, Cap," Banner said, giving a dry little smile over his shoulder. "I’m always angry."

Banner's body began to swell, viridian spreading over his skin as he took on the form of the Hulk.Without a moment’s hesitation, he bounded forward, smashing the monster on the snout and flipping it in time for Stark to fire a blast that reduced the creature to smoldering meat. Steve raised his shield in front of Romanoff, blocking them both from the flaming debris as Barton ducked for cover. But Thor heard the sound of the wind rippling as more chitauri and leviathan began to pour out of the portal.

"You’ve got incoming!" Jane’s voice crackled in the earpiece. "And I’m not ready yet!"

Thor forced down the urge to immediately go to his lover’s side as he looked at Steve.

"Alright, listen up. Until Jane can close that portal up there, we're gonna use containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or your turn it to ash."

"Wanna give me a lift?" Barton asked Stark, shouldering his quiver.

"Right. Better clench up, Legolas." Stark grabbed the archer by the torso and took off into the sky.

"Thor, you've gotta try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You've got the lightning. Light the bastards up." Thor nodded, spinning Mjölnir and taking off. He chose one of the towers with a spire and grabbed on, calling the storm to him. With a loud crack and a boom, lightning formed between him and the sky. He braced himself against the swell of power, redirecting it to the void of the portal. It did its job well, blasting back the chitauri, and in the moments after, he reminded himself to breathe. There was still a long ways to go.

* * *

Jane screamed as the blast threw her least favorite Norse god onto the terrace. Loki looked up and their eyes met. Jane tried  to scramble back out of his reach, but he launched himself at her, grabbing her by the throat just as Agent Romanoff landed in front of her, blue tasers blazing.

"Let her go," the redheaded spy ordered.

"What for?" Loki’s grip tightened on Jane’s windpipe and she whimpered. And then, a miracle happened.

The Hulk leapt up the tower, grabbing both Jane and Loki by the waists and pulling them apart effortlessly. He dropped Jane next to Agent Romanoff, then smashed Loki through the window. Jane could hear him yelling something about being a god, then turned to see Agent Romanoff touching her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah… Yeah, I think so. I can breathe." Jane rubbed at her neck, guessing there were going to be bruises later on. She leaned on the spy as they got back to the CMS machine.

Romanoff looked down at Erik’s unconscious form, frowning a little. "What happened?"

"I had to knock him out," Jane said guiltily, picking up the laptop and resuming her search though Erik’s files. "He was still under the scepter’s influence."

"What can I do to help?" Romanoff asked.

"Well, as it turns out, we need that scepter. The stone inside’s got some kind of connection to the Tesseract, one could shut off the other."

"Well… I’m looking at it right now," Romanoff told her, looking over the edge. "Give me five minutes." Without waiting for confirmation, she flipped over the stones, leaving Jane to finish entering the necessary series of commands.

"JARVIS?" she asked the AI. "Can you patch me back into the same frequency as the Avengers?"

" _Right away, Dr. Foster."_

"Cap?" Jane called. "We’re almost in position, how are you guys doing?"

"Doing what we can. Everything okay up there?"

"We’re working on it." Jane said, hitting the final keys just as Romanoff resurfaced with the scepter. "And I think we’ve got it."

Romanoff slowly pushed the scepter through the force field surrounding the Tesseract. Jane couldn’t help the grin splitting her face as the gem passed through.

"We can close it," Romanoff said breathlessly. "Can anybody copy? We can shut the portal down!"

"Do it!" Rogers blurted.

"No, wait!" Jane paused in disbelief at the new voice.

"Stark, we _need_ to get this shut down, or—"

"We got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it."

Jane’s connection crackled and fizzled out as she watched in mute horror at the shapes of Stark and the missile. Her fingers hovered over the keys as he shot up into the portal.

"Come on, Stark…" Romanoff whispered. Both women watched the portal, tensed in anticipation of their next move. And then, Romanoff twisted the scepter into the core, touching the point to the Tesseract and the portal began to seal.

At the last possible second, Jane saw the red and gold armored shape of Stark drop through, and her hand latched around Romanoff’s arm, as she sucked in a breath. "He’s going to crash… The fall will kill him."

That was when the Hulk vaulted into the sky, grabbing Stark like a rag doll and sliding down the building to drop him between the others. Jane could just make out Thor bending over Stark’s limp form, and then, the Hulk let out a roar. A few minutes later, she saw them taking off towards the tower balcony. "Better step back." Romanoff pulled her back as the others landed. "Hey, fellas."

"Jane." Thor immediately moved close to her, gently cupping her face in his hands. If Jane had been ten years younger, she might have actually swooned. It was hard not to at this moment, even as his face clouded over at noticing the marks on her neck. "You’re hurt—"

"It’s nothing," she promised, placing her hands over his to lower them down. "Just a little bruising."

"Hey. Lovebirds." Stark interrupted. "Come on, we got a psychopath baby brother to nab." Jane felt Thor’s hands tense ever so slightly under hers as they all filed inside.

Loki was struggling to pull himself onto the stone steps, looking like pretty battered himself. There was even an indent in the floor the exact length of his body. He stopped, turning his head, and Jane couldn’t help breaking away from Thor to punch the god of mischief square in the jaw. Someone snorted as Loki’s head snapped at the impact of her fist and she stepped back.

"If it's all the same to you," he said softly, looking over at Stark. "I’ll have that drink now."

There was another snort, this one ruffling Jane’s hair and making her smile just a little. Definitely from the Hulk, then.

 


	5. Promises and Parting

Shawarma, Thor had decided, ranked above Pop-Tarts, but below coffee. Though his heart wasn't truly in the moment. Everyone sitting around the table looked to be in some form of exhaustion. Next to him, Jane raised her disposable cup, the only thing in front of her, and pantomimed throwing it to the floor, and mouthing 'Another!' The chuckle escaped Thor's lips before he could stop himself.

"What's so funny?" Natasha asked, raising an eyebrow at them both. Jane just giggled, stealing another glance at Thor.

"I indulged in a custom of Asgard when Jane and her company took me to a diner in New Mexico," he explained. "She was quite emphatic in reprimanding me for it."

"What, kabuki?" Barton said dryly.

"No, he did _this_ with a porcelain mug." Jane lifted the cup again, puffing out her cheeks and deepening her voice. "This drink, I like it. Another!" She slammed the cup down on the ground, making everyone laugh, even Thor. "Shards of china everywhere," she explained, returning to her own voice. "He gave one of my mugs to the diner owner as an apology."

"And you still fell for him?" Stark teased. "I don’t know whether I should be impressed with him or worried about you."

"Well, it’s hard to resist a guy who breaks into a SHIELD facility, brings back your most prized possession, then takes the time to encourage the work and dreams you’ve had since you were a little girl." Jane leaned her head against Thor’s shoulder, beaming, and he couldn’t help returning it.

"Can’t argue with that," Natasha deadpanned, but Thor thought she might have been sincere in it, too.

"Would you all just excuse us a minute?" Jane stood up, gently tugging Thor by the arm. He followed, knowing what this was about and slightly unsure how to communicate his feelings. She waited until they were out in the back alley behind the shop before turning to look up at him. "Look, before we say anything else, I need to ask you one thing. If… if I hadn’t been on this project, if I’d been put somewhere else like Darcy was, would you have even bothered to try and contact me?"

Thor was wounded by the suggestion, but she had a point. "Once the battle was over, I would have tried. I would not have done so until after we had seen Loki's plans defeated, to do otherwise might have risked you."

"Risked me," she repeated. "What, like I can’t take care of myself?"

"You’ve been put in danger because of me both times we’ve met, Jane."

"And I’ve been fine both times—"

"Loki nearly killed you—"

"But he didn’t!"

"I don’t want to risk it again. It was my recklessness that brought me here in the first place, I am trying to keep you safe—" 

"And I get that, but, these aren’t decisions you should be making on your own, not if…" She stopped, frowning. "Okay, _that_ should have been the first thing I brought up. What… are we? Are we dating? Boyfriend and girlfriend? Whatever the Asgardian equivalent is?"

"If you would have me, Jane, I am yours," he answered simply.

"Okay… okay, so let’s say you’re…. The god of thunder’s my boyfriend, that’s going to take some getting used to," she mumbled to herself, then refocused her attention up at him. "What happens after today? I mean, I get that you have to go back, but… for how long?"

"I don’t know. It will take time to repair the Bifröst and I will be needed to restore order to the realms. But I will find a way. I swear it, Jane, with all that I am. I will return to you." He knew that the uncertainty pained her, their separation had been a constant ache in his being over the last year, but there was little else they could do in these circumstances.

"The last time you said that, it took you a year, and you came back because your brother was trying to take over the world," she said, folding her arms. "Not because of me."

"I know," Thor answered, wincing slightly under her gaze. She had every right to be angry with him. "But I can find a way to communicate with you after I return to Asgard."

"And you’re going to come back?" she asked pointedly, clearly trying not to cry. "I need to know I won’t be waiting for the rest of my life for a promise I can’t be sure you can keep, that… it scares me, okay? Seeing you and him duke it out, it made it clear that our worlds are so different, like yours could pass me by, and I don’t want that!"

Thor cradled her face in his hands, memorizing every detail of her face. "Jane, whatever fate lies before me, you are a part of it. A part of my soul. Nothing will ever change that, and I want to spend as much time with you as I can. The distance, and everything that lies before us… it frightens me as well, I will not deny that. But I have faith that we will overcome this. "

"Okay… okay…" Jane took a few slow deep breaths, grabbing his hands and squeezing until her knuckles turned white. "I’ll try… I won’t stop trying to get back to you… I’m going to keep up my work, but not with SHIELD. I can’t trust them anymore."

"I understand that." He gave her a tender smile. "Your work is unparalleled, Jane, and I have no doubt that you will be able to find a way. If anyone could, it would be you." He pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Hey… no. Not like that." She hooked her hands around the collar of his armor, like she had nearly a year ago and pulled him down for a long, sweet kiss. Thor smiled against her lips, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs as they kissed. He had missed this feeling.

Something buzzed in between them, and Jane moved back, pulling out her phone to check its screen. "They’re letting Erik out of the hospital by the end of today, and SHIELD’s going to transport him to the site I found. The one where we can use the Tesseract to send you and Loki back home."

"Alright," Thor said softly. "I don't want to leave, though." He felt strangely empty without her in his arms.

"Come on." She slipped in next to him, head against his chest as they went back inside, "Are we all done?"

"You haven’t had anything to eat, aren’t you hungry?" Bruce asked in a rather fatherly tone.

"I’m Jewish," Jane explained. "I checked, they mix milk and meat here. I’ll get something to eat later. But SHIELD just let me know they’re ready to go whenever we are. Are we ready?"

"I’d like to change," Stark interjected. "It’d probably attract less attention if only two of us looked… well, you know." He made a vague gesture at Thor. "Looking like we’re going to a cosplay convention."

"Fine. Give it an hour, then," Steve said, finally lifting his head. "We’ll meet at the drop site then."

* * *

"What does it mean to be Jewish?" Jane looked up from packing up her things to glance at Thor. He was still sitting on the bed, watching her. It probably should have been creepy, but it kind of reminded her of a puppy. A very big, blond puppy.

"Oh… um, it’s my religion," she explained. 

"Your faith forbids you from mixing milk and meat?"

"Among other things. It's part of _k_ _ashrut,_ our dietary laws. There are some people who are stricter about it than others. In my case, it’s mostly that I don’t eat pork, and I don’t mix meat and milk. And there are foods I can’t eat during certain holy days."

"Then there are other rules?"

"Well, yeah, but, I guess it’s not as simple as that. My father’s family is Jewish, and I was named in a synagogue, but I spent most of my life without any real spirituality. When I went to college, I started exploring, and became more in touch with that part of my heritage. I started going to _shabbats,_ I observe Chanukkah, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur—" She stopped. "You don’t understand what I’m saying, do you?"

"Something about dedication, the first of the year, and the Day of Atonement," Thor said easily.

It took a lot for Jane not to drop her jaw at him. "How do you know all that if you don’t know what Judaism is?"

"It’s the All-Speak working," he said in a matter of fact tone. "You’ll have to tell me more when I return. Where are you planning to go from here?"

"I don’t know. I can’t really go back to Puente Antiguo, they’re still recovering from the Destroyer. I may go back to working at Culver University, or to live with my mum in England…" Jane laughed a little. "You know, she’d just love you, her doctorates are in archaeology and anthropology, and she specializes in ancient Scandinavia."

Thor burst out into a full peal of laughter. "Surely you jest!"

"No, I’m serious! She actually raised me on a lot of Norse mythology, but I… I kind of tuned it out. I kind of grew out of stories when my father died…" That stopped the laughter pretty quickly, Thor looking at her very somberly.

"I’m sorry. Will you mind if I ask…."

"He died in a lab accident when I was six," Jane supplied. "It was a big part of why I went into astrophysics. It was his field. You remember my notebook?"

"Of course."

"He bought that on the day I was born to give to me on my first day of college. Mum made sure that I got it."

"I’m sorry I never got the chance to meet him. He sounds like a remarkable man."

"He was…" Jane pulled the leather cord from under her shirt so that she could better hold the silver Star of David and give it a momentary squeeze, as she usually did when vaguely remembering her father. "He really was. I hope he’d be proud of me."

"I can’t imagine why he would not be proud of you." Thor walked over to her and leaned down, touching their foreheads together. Jane noticed that he was being very careful about touching her neck, where the bruises from Loki’s manhandling had blossomed into an ugly looking chain of dark purple.

Even so, she smiled up at him, leaning in for another soft kiss as her fingers found their way into his hair. He wrapped an arm around her waist, lifting her up to ease the height difference, and, apparently to carry her over to the bed. For a moment, her entire system went to high alert. "Thor—" _Please, don’t be one of those guys. Please. I… I love you, but we’ve still only know each other for three or four days, I’m not ready…_

"Jane, I have no such intentions, not today, at least," he said gently, setting her down on the bed. "And if I did, I would not do so without your consent."

"Oh, good…" She gave an audible sigh of relief, blushing slightly. "I guess I’m just… waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"What for?" He frowned. "Have I done something wrong?"

"No, of course… okay, okay, so there was the whole gone for a year thing, but other than that… I don’t know, it’s kind of like you’re _too_ perfect, you know?"

He laughed again. "Then I shall endeavor to be less so."

"No, don’t ever change!" Jane blurted, her entire face going from pink to bright red. "I mean…"

"I know what you mean." He pressed their foreheads together again with a smile that made his eyes sparkle. "May I have something of you?"

"Um… sure, what is it?"

"Hold still." She stiffened slightly, watching with wide eyes as he produced a small pointed silver blade and lifted up her hair, carefully cutting a strand from the base of her neck.

"Oh… okay…" Jane’s hand moved to the spot where he’d cut. "A little warning next time."

"I’m sorry." he said, tucking the length of brown hair into the red cloth under his vambraces. Then he took the edge of his cape and cut a strip from it, holding it out to her. Jane took one edge, surprised when he didn’t let go. "Do you know what this means?"

"It’s… vaguely familiar."

"It’s a _handsal_. A promise."

"Oh… You don’t—"

"No, but I want to." There was an intensity in his blue eyes that made it impossible for her to look away. "Whatever else happens, wherever I go, a part of me stays with you. I _will_ return, but until I do, keep my heart safe. Deal?"

"Only if you do the same for mine," she answered immediately. His eyes crinkled as he smiled.

"Deal."

"Dr. Foster?" Someone knocked on the door and Thor let go of the cloth, which Jane hurriedly tied around her wrist. "We’re all ready to go." She glanced over at her boyfriend, who nodded grimly. Jane left the boxes where they were as they headed out of the Helicarrier and onto one of the speed boats, along with a chained, muzzled and glaring Loki. Jane got the job of driving the boat back into Manhattan where a van was waiting for them, headed up by a chiseled looking guy with slightly spiky black hair, and a warmer looking African-American guy, both of whom nodded as the Asgardians and the astrophysicist piled in.

"Jane." Erik was sitting in the shotgun seat, and Jane couldn’t help smiling at the sight of her mentor.

"You look better," she said weakly.

"SHIELD’s made it clear they’re not through with me yet," Erik said, nodding at Thor as they started driving. "Hello, Thor."

"I’m sorry we’re meeting again under these circumstances, Erik."

The rest of the drive to Bethesda Terrace was deadly silent, only made worse by the venomous looks Loki was giving all of them. When they got to the middle of the park, there was a blockade erected.

"You’re going on foot from here," the white guy told them, unlocking the doors. Jane and Erik got out first, followed by Loki, who had Thor’s hand firmly latched onto his arm. The rest of the team was waiting for them around the terrace.

"Until we meet again." Thor went to shake the hands of each of them. Romanoff whispered something in Barton’s ear as Loki passed by, and the archer smirked a little.  Stark carefully opened the familiar silver suitcase holding the Tesseract, and Bruce gingerly lifted it out with a set of tongs.

With  a very somber expression, Thor reached into thin air, producing a glass tube with bronze handles. _Pocket dimensions_ , Jane theorized immediately, watching Bruce place the cube inside. Thor extended one handle towards Loki, who reluctantly took it in his cuffed hands. They both turned the handles, and disappeared into the beam of light. The last thing to go was Thor’s face, and Jane barely saw him mouth three words to her.

_I love you._

"Hey." Stark walked over to her, holding out an envelope he’d produced from his crisp, pale suit. Jane took it skeptically. "If you don’t want to be in New York for a while, I get it. But if you need any funding at all, Stark Industries will cover it."

Jane cracked the envelope open, eyes bugging when she saw the number of zeroes on the check."You’re kidding."

"Nope. Don’t try to give it back, Foster, I don’t like being handed things."

"Stark— Tony. I really can’t."

"Without your work, we would’ve lost, Jane," the billionaire said, surprisingly genuine. "Come on, just take it."

"I’ll hope to see you around, Jane. It was an honor." Bruce kissed her on the cheek as he and Tony got into the hot red sports car and drove off.

Jane turned to the remaining three Avengers and saluted all three. Steve returned it with a little smile before climbing onto a Harley and driving off towards what she could only assume was Brooklyn. Natasha and Clint both headed back to the SHIELD provided van, and Erik loitered, looking at her in concern.

"Jane? Aren’t you coming?"

She shook her head, tucking the check into her breast pocket as she untied the red strip of fabric from her wrist. "I’m going to hang around for a bit." Erik looked doubtful, but he still got into the car. As they drove off, Jane started running her fingers over the fabric as she walked over to the terrace’s edge and looked up into the skies. "Tell him I love him too," she whispered, raising the fabric to her lips.

She thought the stars might have actually winked at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I owe some thanks to Science_Thunder_Lightning_Love for helping me with pieces of Thor's dialogue. You're the best, sweetheart.


	6. Research

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Consider this an end credit scene.

"I can't believe Thor went back before I had the chance to say hello!"

"Darcy, this isn't going to be the entire topic of conversation for the  _eight hour drive_ back to Culver, is it?"

"I'm just saying!"

"Oh, for god's sake...." Jane opened her phone, scrolling through her contacts until she found the one she wanted, and dialed. "Don't talk while I'm having this conversation, okay?"

"Okay, okay, jeez," Darcy rolled her eyes. "But we're stopping at a Silver Diner for lunch. No negotiating, I'm the one driving, after all."

"Fine." Jane heard the person she was calling pick up on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Dr. Ross? Betty? This is Dr. Jane Foster, I—"

"I know who you are, Dr. Jane Foster," the woman on the other end of the line said, laughing a little, "and before you say anything else, I need to ask. Is Bruce okay?"

Jane smiled a little. "I think so. He's currently rubbing elbows with Tony Stark."

"Wow. So, why is Jane Foster, the astrophysicist who rubs elbows with the Avengers doing calling me?"

"Well, I'm headed back to Culver to keep up my work, and I was wondering..." Jane shifted a little, hoping she didn't seem too eager or needy. "Do you maybe want to join our team? I know you're a cellular biologist, but we lost a team member, and... I think you could be a good addition. So... are you in?"

"I'd have to be an idiot to say no to an offer like this. Of course I'm in!"


End file.
